Michael Phelps Visits OMEGA Boutique in Shanghai

Fourteen-time Olympic Gold medalist Michael Phelps, currently in Shanghai for the FINA World Championships, took some time before he began his final preparations for the competition to visit the OMEGA Boutique at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel. Located on Shanghai’s iconic Bund, the commercial center and the heart of Shanghai’s dynamic nightlife, the Swatch Art Peace Hotel blends a retail environment with a hotel where artists live and work. Leading Swatch Group brands Breguet, Blancpain and Omega are represented within the hotel with boutiques of their own.

While he visited OMEGA, in addition to autographing watch boxes containing the newly upgraded Seamaster Planet Ocean collection, Phelps together with some child swimming enthusiasts used precision horological hand tools to disassemble and then reconstruct a watch movement.

“Time is of paramount importance to me,” Michael said. “In swimming, a hundredth of a second can determine the result. That’s why precise timing is critical to competitive swimming. OMEGA is visible everywhere I compete. It’s just like having a family around when I’m traveling.”

The FINA World Championships are taking place from July 16th to 31st at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center.

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